Warning: I'm going to rant even more this chapter, since the author's topped herself... and NOT in a good way!
The rest of those coming to Ba Sing Se for the peace conference arrive, and the group from the Fire Nation will be staying in the Jasmine Dragon, since they aren't "welcome" at the palace until things are worked out. Mai, however, is fairly rude to the Dowager, as well as to Zuko, not forgiving the latter for a previous incident. Toph detests Mai, especially the idea of her essentially becoming her sister-in-law.
After going dress shopping, Katara overhears Hakoda and Iroh talking about her and Zuko. Hakoda doesn't think Katara will settle for Hahn, but Iroh says that Zuko has already settled for Mai, and he keeps the worst of his opinion to himself, since Toph's already fairly critical of Mai and he's trying to be supportive of Zuko. Hakoda sees a certain amount of wisdom in Iroh's approach, as his opposition to Bato and Ming's relationship caused some friction between him and Bato.
Katara and Hakoda are quite upset that women are excluded from official Water Tribe meetings, unfortunately, given the context, none of Katara's friends or family can say or do much about it, except for Zuko. Katara and Zuko spend some time together, talking about their recent awkwardness and making some progress in smoothing things over, albeit without addressing the cause of their conflict.
Apparently, the meeting doesn't go well, and Aang tired of not being listened to, leaves midway through. Katara listens to his various complaints, but advises him to get back quickly, and he does, but he reminds her that he's still waiting for her answer. Katara's planning on turning Aang down gently, but Yugoda hopes she'll say yes, since the patriarchy isn't going away any time soon (fair enough, but many women throughout history have refused to simply abide by hte traditions that were in place, with varying degrees of success), and that she should get together with Aang.
Katara finds what Yugoda's saying hard to accept, but begins to despair and realizes that she and Zuko can't be together. After a long period of angst, she resolves to do her best to resign herself to that, but then realizes that it starts with overcoming her attraction to Zuko, and making a list of everything unattractive about him.
We get to the final scene of Canon outside of the comics, and while Iroh notes how they became a family on Ember Island and should act like one, Katara can barely contain her disgust for Mai, particularly when she calls Zuko "sweetie".
Since the author's following The Stations of the Canon to the last, you know what's coming up, even if I can hardly believe I'm writing this. Katara. Kisses. AANG! In a fic about Zutara written by an author who has no respect for the pairings it supplants, Katara kisses the guy who, in this fic, barely rates better than "tolerated" at most times!
When I think about it, I'm a bit surprised that the fic is as well-received as it is(even though there are a fair number of critical reviews of this chapter), since this part isn't doing any favors for anyone. The Zutarians have to watch as their favored couple spend time with their canon love interests (even if no one really enjoys it), the Kataangers know full well that this won't last, and everyone has to wait for any meaningful progress to the couple in this fic.
Of course, Katara has her reasons, if not good ones, since she's resigned to the fact that she's either getting together with Aang or Hakoda, and so chooses Aang, believing that he needs her as Avatar, and she can learn to love him. That doesn't mean that either of them enjoys it, though, as she realizes that she's making a mistake, and runs off, while acknowledging inwardly that she's doing the very thing that she criticizes Aang for. She misses the point, and the worst part about this- she's essentially using him to get over Zuko, and has the gall to act disgusted when things don't go as she planned.
Apparently, with Kataang once again scuttled, the author turns back to Maiko, and proceeds to show Mai propose, presumably correctly, that Zuko wouldn't try to stop her if she broke up with him. Upset with his non-answer confirming this perception, she storms off, and Zuko meets up with Katara, who realizes that she can't possibly get over him in an afternoon. That's an interesting supposition, but it's never tested in canon, because she couldn't possibly get over Zuko if she was never in love with him- the only thing to get over was her distrust of him, which was stronger than the author believed.
So essentially, the author's greatest weapon against Kataang and Zutara is to show both relationships as highly dysfunctional, and twist the uplifting and heartwarming moments between them into proof of how unstable they are. The author doesn't even give the canon couples a fair shake except to confirm her points.
The author repeats the standard Zutara counterargument that "Kataang's 2 year gap is bigger than Zutara's 2 year gap," and suggests that Aang is inexperienced in sexual attraction. That may be so, but relationships need not start that way, and perhaps Aang and Katara could gradually build up to that point, the way most couples do.
In short, this chapter confirmed what I think about writing fan fiction. When writing a fanfic for a fandom with multiple competing ships, it's important to have a certain degree of respect for the other pairings, and acknowledge them as potentially viable pairings, lest your dealings with those ships be tainted by negativity and bias. I, for one, consider Zutara a pairing that can be done well (even if it becomes so a bit too close to the end of canon to be properly built up), and my main problem with how the author deals with it here is that it takes far too long for the relationship to get anywhere, and when it does, there's inconvenient and contrived setbacks.
On a more positive level, it's nice to see a few reviews criticize the author for Katara's actions and her portrayal of Mai, amid all the chorus of almost sycophantic "this is so great and better than canon" reviews that make little effort to think of anything they didn't like, let alone give constructive criticism. One reviewer went so far to stop reading because he, like me, is frustrated with the lack of progress, and fears that if Zuko and Katara get together, it will be too close to the ending to be meaningful. I agree, and while some stories without much of a focus on romance can get away with a Last-Minute Hookup, romance stories should have more meaningful and permanent progress earlier on, something that this fic has failed to do.
What I liked
- Again, I'm drawing a blank.
What I didn't like
- Mai once again being portrayed as a jerk
- Katara's over-the-top disgust with Mai and using Aang to get over Zuko.
- EVERYTHING about the Kataang kiss.
